ESPN Action Sports and its network of Web sites is expanding its content, features and collaboration in an attempt to attract more online action sports fans.
Launched Jan. 5 with the redesigned ESPN.com, the new ESPN Action Sports network has expanded its content through an agreement with Tony Hawk's ShredorDie.com site, with the addition of new bloggers, contributors and snow and surf report applications powered by On The Snow and Surfline technology.
ESPN Action Sports operates as a homepage for a network of connected Web sites. XGames.com is the new headquarters for news, event info, schedules and athlete bios concerning X Games-related content. There are multiple vertical sites dedicated to coverage of a specific sport including snowboarding, free skiing, skateboarding, motocross, surfing and BMX racing.
ESPN Action Sports also will feature select video clips produced by Shred Or Die, its regular contributors and its user-generated video content. Promotional branding and links back to ShredOrDie.com will be featured throughout the site.
The ESPN Action Sports video podcast, which began last September, has grown from an average of 10,000 downloads per month to an average of nearly 100,000 downloads per month via ESPN Podcenter and iTunes. ESPN will also continue to advance how action sports photography is used online. Galleries showcase high-resolution, large-format photography, paired with captions or audio in slide shows.
